User:Ronaldo1948/sandbox

Early Years
Sandy Roberton was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on 7 July 1942. When he was six years old, his parents emigrated to Africa - his father Robert was a tractor technician involved in the British Government’s post-war Tanganyika Groundnut Scheme in East Africa. In consequence, he was raised firstly in Tanganyika (now Tanzania), and latterly in Kenya, where as a teenager he had his first taste of the local music scene in a group called Les Hombres.

Rockburgh Records
In 1977 Sandy Roberton formed his own record label, Rockburgh Records - the name was derived from a combination of Rock ‘n’ Roll and Edinburgh, his place of birth. Rockburgh Records existed from 1977 to 1981 and during that time released just over 40 albums and singles by a wide roster of artists, including amongst others The Woods Band (Gay and Terry Woods), British singer-songwriter Allan Taylor, Australian rock band Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons, former Dr. Feelgood guitarist Wilco Johnson, and, some five years on from Plainsong, once again Iain Matthews.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Plainsong were managed by record producer Sandy Roberton whose music production and artist management company September Productions had signed The Liverpool Scene as their first artists in 1968. Roberton produced four albums in just under two years for The Liverpool Scene, plus Roberts’ 1970 solo album Home Grown and his 1971 Everyone album Everyone, B&C Records CAS-1028; Discogs.com;  with Richards, in addition to producing Matthews’ first two solo albums in a three-album deal with Vertigo. He also produced and managed the folk rock band Steeleye Span amongst many others during that era.

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============================ Plainsong were managed by record producer Sandy Roberton whose music production and artist management company September Productions had signed The Liverpool Scene as their first artists in 1968. Roberton produced four albums in just under two years for The Liverpool Scene, plus Roberts’ 1970 solo album Home Grown and his 1971 Everyone album with Richards, in addition to producing Matthews’ first two solo albums in a three-album deal with Vertigo. He also produced and managed the folk rock band Steeleye Span amongst many others during that era.

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REVISED SUMMARY ENDING

Plainsong was originally a British country rock/folk rock band, formed in early 1972 by Iain Matthews, formerly of Fairport Convention and Matthews Southern Comfort, and Andy Roberts, previously a member of The Liverpool Scene and Everyone. Plainsong's line-up consisted of Matthews, Roberts, piano and bass player David Richards who had played with Roberts in the band Everyone, and American guitarist and bass player Bobby Ronga, who Matthews and Roberts had first met in the summer of 1971 when they toured the US and Canada as an acoustic trio with former Fairport guitarist Richard Thompson.

Managed by record producer Sandy Roberton, Plainsong released just one album during their original existence, In Search of Amelia Earhart in October 1972, before splitting up at the end of December that year in somewhat acrimonious circumstances. A second studio album Now We Are 3 was recorded before the split but remained unreleased until 2005.

Matthews and Roberts have revived Plainsong several times since the early 1990s, firstly as a quartet in 1992 with two new band members: Mark Griffiths, Matthews' former colleague in Matthews Southern Comfort, and British singer-songwriter Julian Dawson, recording a new album Dark Side Of The Room in 1992 and then going out on tour in August 1993 for the first time in 20 years. Two more albums followed - Voices Electric in 1994 and Sister Flute in 1996 - before Clive Gregson replaced Dawson in the band in 1996, touring Europe in 1997 and recording another new album New Place Now in 1999. Dawson rejoined Plainsong in 2003 for their next album Pangolins.

During the 2000s Matthews and Roberts intermittently performed and recorded together as a duo under the Plainsong name (sometimes as 'Plainsong Light') and in 2015 they revived Plainsong as a band once again, this time as a trio with Mark Griffiths, to record an album of Richard Fariña songs. Touring to promote the album began in 2016 and included a performance at the 2017 Cropredy Festival. They also released a live album under their own names in 2021, a performance recorded in Nottingham in 1991.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Plainsong’s 1972 debut album, 2022 saw both the release of a book In Search Of Plainsong by Ian Clayton which charts the history of the original 1972 band, and a retrospective 6-CD box set compilation, Following Amelia: The 1972 Recordings & More from Cherry Red Records. A short UK tour by Matthews and Roberts to promote both releases took place in December 2022.

50th Anniversary
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Plainsong’s debut album In Search Of Amelia Earhart, 2022 saw the release of a book charting the history of the original 1972 band, a retrospective 6-CD box set compilation from Cherry Red Records, and a short UK promotional tour by the remaining original Plainsong members, Iain Matthews and Andy Roberts.

In Search of Plainsong
Written during the Covid lockdown in 2020 by broadcaster and author Ian Clayton who had previously collaborated with Matthews on his 2018 biography, In Search of Plainsong from UK-based Route Publishing was initially released via their online website in mid-March 2022. With a Foreword by Clinton Heylin, author of What We Did Instead of Holidays and No More Sad Refrains about Fairport Convention and Sandy Denny respectively, the book is divided into two parts: ‘Call The Tune’ which charts the band’s origins leading up to their formation in December 1971, and ‘Face The Music’ which follows the band throughout 1972 to their break-up at the end of the year.

A Route-only Deluxe version was also made available and included a limited edition CD comprising an edited version of a Plainsong concert recorded in Amsterdam in April 1972, plus several Plainsong demo recordings. The book went on general release some six months later on 2 September 2022 to favourable reviews, including a 4-star rating from music journalist Nick Dalton in the August 2022 edition of Record Collector. An equally positive review also appeared in the November edition of Shindig magazine.

In addition, writing in the 13 October 2022 edition of online publication Americana UK, jourmalist Rick Bayles wrote “Ian Clayton has written the book this outstanding band have always deserved. The full story of what happened to Amelia Earhart may never be fully resolved but 'In Search of Plainsong' finally dispels the myths and mysteries around one of the great bands of English Folk Rock.”

Following Amelia: The 1972 Recordings & More
Released as a 6-CD box set on 21 October 2022 by Cherry Red Records on their Lemon label, Following Amelia: The 1972 Recordings & More brought together a 50th anniversary re-issue of their 1972 debut album In Search Of Amelia Earhart digitally remastered from the original reel-to-reel master tapes, their second originally unreleased follow-up album Now We Are 3, and a host of previously unissued tracks from Matthews' and Roberts' own archives and from the collections of fans worldwide.

The box set includes two discs of BBC recordings from the various shows they did for John Peel and Bob Harris, and also includes the rare Sounds On Sunday radio broadcast, the very last recording they made together at the end of December 1972 before their break-up. It also contains the full unedited version of the Folk Fairport concert in Amsterdam mastered from the original tape, excerpts from the very first concert by the reformed Plainsong in Mayrhofen, Austria in 1993, and a set of six acoustic remakes of Amelia Earhart songs originally recorded in 2020 to accompany the Ian Clayton book.

Like the book, Following Amelia also received a 4-star review from Record Collector and numerous positive reviews from online publications such as Spirit of Progressive Rock, At The Barrier, Real Gone Rocks, The Second Disc and Spiral Earth.

UK Promotional Tour
Both the book and the box set were promoted by Matthews and Roberts as the two surviving members of the original band during a short tour of the UK in December 2022. The various performances began with a selection of songs chosen by Matthews and Roberts from their respective solo careers before turning to purely Plainsong material. The set lists including numerous tracks from their debut 1972 album In Search Of Amelia Earhart. A 4-song segue of ‘Amelia' songs from their evening performance in Pontefract on 11 December can be viewed on Route TV’s YouTube channel and a review by Paul Stewart of the final show in Brighton was published online on 16 December 2022 by Brighton Source.